It'll only take a couple of minutes, it's completely free and we promise to keep your details confidential. Once you're a Cruises member you'll be able to join in with all of those interesting discussions and lots of advice. You could even join our cruise roll call 'all aboard' forum to get in touch those going on the same cruise as you! We look forward to welcoming you 'on board Cruises'...Click here to register or Sign in

I have nothing against Titan, they are experts at what they do...no question about that.

However...I am not so sure that it was a clearly thought out plan to remove Concordia in one piece. My reasoning for this is simple. Titan is a company with a contract with National Geographic, they make the "Salvage Code Red" series that shows the company tackling tasks with wrecked vessels worldwide and they generally manage what they are tackling very well.

I was surprised that Titan/Microperi won the contract to remove Concordia. I thought SMIT had a far better plan and they have more experience of removing wrecks from the more difficult positions...such as Kursk, for example, where they partnered with Mamoed, another highly experienced firm.

As much as the removal of Concordia in one piece is infinitely preferable to having her sliced and diced on the spot, for a variety of reasons not least environmental impact, I have my doubts that she can be righted and moved as a whole.

She is nearly 1000ft long, the largest foundered vessel thusfar, her stern and bow are sat on pinnacles of rock with virtually nothing underneath her main hull sections, she has been pounded by the sea and there is seismic activity nearby too, all will have taken a toll on her hull. She will require the water to be pumped out of her as she is righted, a task in itself that is fraught with potential dangers including environmental.

Looking at how Ventura cracked a deck a few weeks ago just goes to show that even a fully functioning ship doesn't always live up to ordinary stresses and strains of work...not saying that there might be an inherent weakness in the steel or design, but Concordia has been semi-submerged for almost 11 months and salt water has been attacking the parts that would not normally suffer such damage.

Which takes me back to the NatGeo link in all this. A series of 2 or 3 documentaries about the raising of Concordia would be a huge hit both financially and in viewer numbers, and since Concordia is the biggest passenger ship to ever founder adds something to that too...despite the tragedy behind her loss. I cannot help but wonder if the TV coup got in the way of making a workable plan to remove the wreck.

When looking at the plans from SMIT and Titan, both had excellent ideas on how to remove the wreck...but I have always felt that perhaps Titan were taking on too much in believing that they could remove her in one piece. SMIT wanted to surgically slice and dice, something they are world renowned at doing without any environmental contamination being present.

I can see this Titan plan falling foul of reality, that they might end up slicing and dicing afterall cos Concordia is not going to plan, this is obvious by the continued extending of the removal timeline...and there is a real danger that she could break her back during the parbuckling process...something that would cause significant environmental damage.

I know that the Italians want her taken away in one lump....and ideally that would be the best way...but she might not cope with that and the longer she stays in her current position, the more likely it is that she breaks up at a vital part of the recovery process thus undoing all of the great preparation work done thusfar.

This friday CBCs Fith Estate is showing a program where they interviewed Captain Francesco Schettino,The following is a little bit of his statement.

The brave captain told the reporter that he believes that the ship was not on the course he had ordered and how he believes that a helmsmans brief error contributed to the problem.

El Capitino carries on to say "it's not a crime,it's an accident
He tells the reporter that he delayed in ordering abandon ship because he did not want to create panic.

he also goes on to say that while he was co-ordinating the evacuation he ACCIDENTLY slid of the side of the listing ship and into a lifeboat.
There is a little bit more about what an Canadian passenger thought of the incident.

jim

do any of you think that the brave Capitano would make a good forum member?

jim

Last edited by jimtheoldsalt, felixstowe; 13th December 2012 at 09:51 AM.

Not much interest in the Good capitine,but here is a litl info on another of their ships.

Costa Pacifica,, whilst entering Marseilles on Dec11 under mistral conditions she was pushed against the quay suffering a large slash low down on (I think stb side),will be interesting to see if they can do a swift repair job.

jim

I think this is the website where a short video of the Pacifica shows the damage.

Some of the things he says about how the incident unfolded could almost be plausible as to why he took the course of actions he did up to a point. But the fact that he says he ACCIDENTALLY fell into a lifeboat just about washes any credibility out of his story.